During the fifth GOP debate, a question for Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson by a CNN moderator drew loud boos from the crowd.

At the fifth Republican presidential debate, the discussion took a turn for the bizarre when CNN moderator Hugh Hewitt, after commenting on Ben Carson’s life story, asked him whether he was tough enough to kill thousands of innocent children.

“We're talking about ruthless things tonight. Carpet bombing, toughness, war. And people wonder, could you do that?” Hewitt asked the retired neurosurgeon. “Could you order air strikes that would kill innocent children by not the scores, but the hundreds and the thousands? Could you wage war as a commander in chief?”

While Hewitt was clearly pressing Carson to talk about his willingness to go to war, his question — as many other journalists pointed out online — was ill-phrased, which drew angry boos from the audience.